Posts by Noa Granot
Private Ocean of Lights
Noa Granot For many, the holidays are times of gathering in celebration. While this may be true, as someone who deeply values the inner world, at least as much as the outer, I believe that holidays can equally serve as opportunities for healing solitude and retreat. Last Chanukah, my therapist instructed me to go out…
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You Are Not Alone
I am going to share something profound that happened to me last week. No matter what I did and where I went, I felt a glass ball in the pit of my stomach releasing filthy grey exhaust from within me and out into the world. From the height of my brain, up in the heavens,…
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When I Couldn’t Decide What to Write About
It’s almost 1 a.m. in Israel and I am determined to write another JN blog post on holistic health! And yet, I am completely overwhelmed by all the different topics I could write about. So far, we’ve explored the nature of stress and your autonomic nervous system, the five elements and their relationship to the…
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What Is Zen Shiatsu?
Photos by Nahum Aharon Above: Noa practices with the shiatsu community in the Jerusalem hills. In one of my first blog posts, I discussed Jerusalem’s oases of peace — one of them was a school for Zen Shiatsu therapy training. So what is Zen Shiatsu and why did I become a Zen Shiatsu practitioner? I…
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Doing Nothing
On Sunday we celebrated the end of Sukkot, and in the secular world we celebrated the end of the High Holiday season. One month. Very few workdays. Mostly holidays. In Israel, most of the holidays, like a weekend, are days where most businesses are closed and there is no public transportation. Most people do not…
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Learning How To Drive Again
Like many of you readers in Detroit, I got my driver’s license in the Motor City when I was 16. My parents taught me how to drive. We’d spend hours practicing U-turns on Woodward Avenue and merging onto I-75 South. The all-too-familiar request that repeated itself at the age of 15 was “Dad! Can I…
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Embracing the Metallic – High Holiday Season
After Orbiting Into A New Year went online two weeks ago, I looked at it and scoffed. I thought, This is a load of crap! No one would want to read this. But after a day or so of feeling worthless, I shared on social media in spite of my self-deprecating thoughts. And when I…
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Orbiting Into A New Year
Have you ever thought about the relationships between the planets and the stars, the elements of the earth, the seasons, the hours of the day and yourself — your bodily functions, your thoughts and emotional processes? Sometimes, I think about my tiny little life. It is an early summer evening. I imagine enormous Jupiter making…
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Fight Or Flight – Machane Yehuda
When our bodies enter a state of stress, we go into “fight or flight” mode. All our energy and resources move out toward the surface, ready to deal with any dangers that come our way. When this happens continuously, over time, it comes at the expense of a healthily functioning parasympathetic nervous system — or…
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What Israel Has Taught Me About Stress
Israel just may be one of the most stressful places to live. Many of us don’t feel that way when we’re going about our daily lives — it will only occur to us when we are leaving or re-entering the country. When I pay my yearly visit to Michigan, a long-forgotten sense of calm and…
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